How has everyone been doing on the Clinch? I may try to head up there early next week to fish in the AM. Are the fish taking dries or nymphs better?
I have been tying some orange wet flies for the swap, and I may take a couple to try out.
Thanks for the info
-Ben

FJP - I went last weekend for about 1 1/2 hrs. Not much happening on the surface. I fished some larger streamers and only landed 2, both of which were recent stockers. Not much to crow about from my corner. I would expect that terrestrials might be the ticket in afternoons. I may give it a try on Sat and will let you know.

I did my first guided trip up there yesterday...We were around peach orchard and didn't see much activity all day. There were a few rising to midges in the morning, as the day progressed I still saw a few sporadic sulphurs, and towards the late afternoon some march browns (I think).

Our boat did terrible throwing spin tackle, and after lunch I decided it was time to introduce two guys to the world of fly fishing. The gent in the front of the boat had never held a spin rod before, let alone a fly rod. I had him casting pretty loops in about 20 minutes! I'm not just saying that my jaw was in the floor of the boat watching him cast off of a simple explaination and short demonstration. The bhpt was in the water for thirty seconds when he got his first fish of the day...I believe I created a monster at that point.

The gent in the back of the boat was oppossed to trying to figure out the fly rod in the boat. After a few minutes of watching the indicator constantly going under, he thought otherwise in handling the fly rod...He boated seven, five of which were on the fly! His friend in the front of the boat I believe boated 3, 2 on the fly.

To top it all off these guys managed to never even get so much as a tangle in the indicator rig! I was more than pleased with the results! Especially after driving around for 30 minutes looking for the rest of the group first thing in the morning....I got a little confused as to where we were starting the float.

Anywho, I'd try a BHPT sizes fourteen and sixteen seems to be what the brookies liked all day!

I fished it for the first time last week.. two spots..went in at the church .. beautiful morning.. fog on the river, and some herons out fishing. I only managed one (~7") rainbow. I then went up to Williams Island and got in a about an hour before the water rose.. but had fair amount of action and managed to land a 10" brookie and a slightly smaller rainbow and few smaller ones. missed about as many! all on nyphs.. BHPT and assorted midges. Water was sooo clear. very nice..Can't wait to go back.

__________________"it donít matter if we sit forever and the fish donít bite"

I fished the falling water this morning at millers island. Caught 2 browns, 2 rainbows, and 3 brookies and missed at least that many all in the 10-15" range. Caught fish on zebra midges, scuds, and wooley buggers.

I decided to head to the Clinch this morning and fished from 7 till 11:30. I typically fish on Friday afternoons to avoid the crowds, and even though it was crowded today it wasn't too crowded. All my typical runs had people on them when I arrived, so I spent some time searching new water. Only managed to bring 2 bows to hand, both on stripper midges, but I let an unbelievable number get off the hook today. I was hooking them on sulfur thorax duns, midge larvae, and slumpbusters, but I just couldn't land them. Oh well, next time....

Fished the Clinch on Wed. and Thursday and had great days both days. Wed. I parked at the Church and walked upstream to Lewallen Island, caught far more then I could count, however I usually lose count after 2 And 6 or so that were in the slot. Same old same old in terms of flies, small PT's and midge pupa.

Thursday, I fished below Peach Orchard about 2 miles, and had a fantastic morning. Brought to hand a 21" rainbow, and a 19" brown with a smattering of other slot sized fish along with the litany of dink brookies, browns, and rainbows. The nasty stockers have really choked parts of that stretch and are almost a nuisance in places. Same flies as Wed, but the fish were really happier with midge pupa especially the larger fish.